The End
by penndag
Summary: My version of the fifth book in the Power of 5 series. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Okay so this is an expiriment that I'm doing all by myself so I really want to know how bad it is. My British English and Austrailian English might be a little blotchy, but I'm American so there's not much I can do about that, but I have an awesome english accent. Thanks! Enjoy!

The leader of the old ones was happy, and most were surprised. Then again, he dosen't derivive pleasure from bunnies and butterflies. His happieness depended on one thing. Misery. Everyone on earth was miserable. And he was perfectly okay with that, no, he was really okay with that. Most of Hong Kong was dead, everyone else was in a living hell, and the gatekeepers were on separate continents! That alone would be enough for him to start dancing, but leaders of apocalyptic groups don't dance.

The King called in one of his servants. The humming bird. It would send messages the fastest. "Tell the troups, we march at dawn," he ordered.

Ah. Life was sweet. Especially when your ending it.

* * *

Scarlett's POV

She felt like crap. Her head was pounding and she felt totally wasted. Groaning, Scarlett Adams stood up, looking around. She'd been sleeping on a bed that was really, quite comfortable, in a room that was painted gold with pictures of kangaroos and whatnots on the walls, and not much else except for a large dresser and desk.

Then a maid walked in. She was dressed in iron board straight trousers with a blouse, and looked very professional and distant. "Miss, you're awake. Clothes are in the wardrobe," she gestured towards a big wardrobe in the corner that Scarlett had noticed before. Scarlett also noticed that the maid had an Australian accent that clashed with her serious look, "Please change quickly and someone will be outside to help you around." And with that, the maid left.

Scarlett stood, then nearly fell over at the sight of her appearence. Her face was wrapped in bandages horizontally, across her cheeks and around her her head with holes cut out where her nose was. She stared at herself for a second then remembered. She had been shot. Great. The fifteen year old girl got dressed and headed out of the bedroom.

"There you are!" someone who Scarlett didn't recognize said happily. Then she had an epiphany. It was Pedro, one of the gatekeepers from her dream. He stumbled slightly on the words, "You're finally awake!"

"Really? That's fantastic!" another voice called from the hall. This man also had an Australian accent, "With any luck we'll be able to transport her within a few weeks!"

"Pedro, where am I?" Scarlett asked, she figured she was probably somewhere in Australia, but other than that, she had no clue.

"Well, Scarlett, you are in my house. As for the location, I'd say a few miles outside ," a man of of whom she didn't recognize stepped around the corner. He was rather large with rather unkempt hair and bags under his eyes, "G'day Scarlett! My name is Harry Foster, I'm a member of the Nexus, an organization that is trying to prevent and Apocalypse by bring you five together. But for now, would you like some breakfast. We can explain the story to you there."

A few minutes later, Pedro, Harry Foster, and Scarlett were sitting at the table covered with mounds of eggs and bacon. The two explained how she'd been shot in the face and that Pedro's healing power saved her life. They also recounted the story of how she arrived here. They said that when Scarlett and Pedro showed up in a cave somewhere near an old farmhouse in the desert. Richard had called the Nexus and they sent them to Harry's house outside Adelaide to recover in time for the next battle against the Old Ones.

"Do you understand now Scarlett?" Harry asked.

"Yes. When do we meet up with the others?" she was strangely eager to see the five again. Then they'd be whole, an indestructible force against the Old Ones.

"We'll have to wait a few more days. At the moment, no one else knows your here. You'll rest a few more days and then we'll take you to England."

"Why England? Shouldn't we meet up with the others first?"

"We'll go to England because that is where the Old Ones are. I will go to the Inca. I must find people to help us destroy the Old Ones," Pedro said, "Jamie and Scott arrived in America and Matt in England. They will locate more people. Then we will all go to England, where it all began."

"Where it will begin again."

* * *

Scott's POV

Scott was feeling really, well, relaxed, though that might sound odd coming from a 15 year old who was soon going to save the world. "But, really," he thought, "He had his brother, was eating the absolute best burger ever, and they had a solid plan as to how to kill the Old Ones, nothing could be better."

Of course, he did have some problems, like why Matt didn't trust him. Sure, he'd been locked in a mental prison for a few days and could potentially be a spy who would ruin them all unintentionally, but he didn't have to separate him and Jamie. Jamie had nearly gotten killed in Hong Kong had it not been for him, and it was all Matt's fault.

He sighed, he really shouldn't take it out on Matt. It was them. All them. Their fault entirely that Matt wouldn't trust him, that his little brother and new friends had nearly died. He could feel them, poking through his thoughts, whispering awful things that almost made him turn on Jamie, the only one he could trust. That's why he kept him out, so he wouldn't have to hear, so he could worry about his own problems.

Because he was supposed to protect them both, and he wouldn't fail again.

* * *

Jamie's POV

They were home! Good ol' America, where he and Scott had been born and raised, though he often tried to forget about the _raised_ part. The two boys were having lunch in Natalie Johnson's penthouse, and her chef, was amazing! Maybe someday, he'd get rich and hire his own chef to make him food all day long.

But it wasn't all fun and games. After the chairman of Nightrise had died, the whole ticket counting scandal had been sorted out and John Trelawny had been sworn in. Now he was trying to convince people in Congress to listen to him and send troops to help them fight in the bloody war to come, because he knew that they'd need an army to face the Old Ones. Jamie and Scott were trying to find out as much as possible about Nightrise, the Nexus believed that if they could stop people from joining the Old Ones, they would win. He doubted it though. They would have to trust Matt. He had led them out of this before, and he was going to do it again.

The problem was Scott didn't trust Matt. Jamie had gotten much better at reading through his barrier and he knew that Scott resented that Matt didn't trust him, to the extent of separating them.

Jamie hoped that they would eventually become friends. They were going to need it.

* * *

So? What'd you think. I didn't edit much, I just wanted to see everyone's response. If you guys like it, I'll post Matt's POV later. I just always got this feeling that he'd be, you know, starting everything. A full cycle kind of thing you know, he started the action now he is the first to try and end it. I hope you enjoyed!

Penn

P.S. To all of Jibao and I's Twisted Apocalypse fans, the new chapter will be out soon!


	2. Chapter 2 Author's Note

Hi, I know this is totally against the rules but this isn't a chapter. If you care about this story, I promise I will update eventually, but right now, I can't think of anything.

I was hoping you guys might have some ideas that you're afraid to execute and that you could post them as a review. Then, I'll make up a story form there.

Please Please Help me!

Penn


	3. Chapter 3

Hi!

I got the idea for this next chapter from Black Lighted Clouds, so I hope you enjoy this new plot twist.

Penn

Matt's POV

_The sky was black in the dream world._

_"That's odd," Matt muttered to himself as he trudged along the coast, searching for one of his friends. Then he saw her. Long dark hair fluttering in the breeze with storm clouds swirling around her body._

_"Scarlett!" he yelled. When she saw him a huge hurricane swept her up and dragged her towards him._

_"Matt!" she yelled. When she was a few feet away, she dropped her hurricane running towards him and hugging him tightly, "Oh God! We thought you were dead, Matt. What happened? We've been searching this place for ages and ages. One night you're there and in the morning, you're gone!" she ranted._

_Then she grabbed his face and kissed him. Hard. And honestly, he enjoyed it._

_But out of pure shock, he twisted away and stared at her, "What was that?"_

_Scarlett looked hurt, "I missed you Matt, why shouldn't I kiss you?"_

_Then he noticed the small difference in her face. The way her eyes were fiercer, brewing with some sort of emotion. Her normally thin frame, skinnier than ever, he swore he could almost see her ribs._

_"You're not Scarlett, your the one from the past," Matt whispered. He'd never before seen a gatekeeper from that era in their dreamworld._

_"So you're from the future. You aren't Matt," Scarlett suddenly looked tired, as if she'd been through to much, "I guess that's it then. I should've known he was dead. He told me. I just couldn't believe that. But you're here for a reason. When..." she choked slightly, her face breaking even more, "...Matt died, he told me, I'd find someone to help us. I guess that's you."_

_Matt thought about it, "Wait, if I'm replacing the other Matt, who's going to defeat the Old Ones from our time?"_

_"I think we're supposed to share you. That makes sense. You can probably hop from one time to the other," Scarlett reasoned._

_Matt didn't like that. It made him sound like a possestion. Something that was used for a while then thrown away when no longer useful. It reminded him of the way his aunt treated him._

_"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Scarlett whispered, stepping closer. She really was pretty, Matt thought to himself. Scarlett stepped even closer. Matt could see every single shade of green in her eyes. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed their lips together._

_As the dream slowly dissolved, Matt thought, "I could totally get used to this."_

Scott's POV

He spent most of his time in the library.

He loved the way you could walk in on one day, and you'd read about how misunderstood Lindsey Lohan felt, and how she'd die of old age married to a Russian violinist, and the next day, you ended up in a different part of the city styled library reading about a drug adict named Martha from Taiwan, who died from an overdose after her family kicked her out.

The stories he loved the most, were the ones with unhappy endings. They made him feel like his life wasn't so bad. At least he had Jamie, and five others who he knew he could count on. Even Matt, who took him away from his brother, would never sell him out to Nightrise.

God he hated them.

He remembered waking up in a cell. The entire room was padded and white, and smelled so strongly of chemicle cleaners and death that he couldn't stand it.

Then came the injections.

Some days, he'd wake up and could barely remember his own name. Other days he'd be mad at Jamie.

_"How could he just leave!" Scott screamed scratching and pummeling the fancy fabric._

Scott shook it off quickly, "Those aren't your thoughts, those are theirs."

Instead he focused on the life of teenage mom Cassandra, who was taking her daughter out to the park.

"Gah!" he muttered angrily. There was no point in reading. The best thing to do was to just sit here and wait for himself to wake up.

He shivered slightly as the wind picked up. It'd been doing that for days now. Maybe past Scarlett was with present Matt again.

He had never met present Scarlett. Past Scarlett was okay, but tended to boss him around a lot. He'd met her a few months back. They and a bunch of friends were looking for past Matt and he'd promised to tell them if he saw them. He wondered why the past five were here. Wasn't this supposed to be their space?

Why did he have to be a gatekeeper? couldn't he just be a normal kid? One who hadn't been found in a box of yard seed. One who couldn't communicate with his brother through their minds.

A sudden rumble cut of his thoughts, "That is so not Scarlett," he muttered and stood up, waiting for something to happen.

Before he could even think 'What?', Scott began to fall. The ground below him split in two to create a giant chasm.

The last thing he heard as he fell was, "NO! Scott! Come back!"

Then with a shock of powerful electricity, he stopped falling.

The shock came again, making his limbs shake.

Then with a final burst, Scott sat up straight, and with a bright flash of white light, he fainted.

Other Matt's POV

He stood silently, watching tensely.

He'd seen the outcome if he didn't go through with it but that meant leaving Scarlett and the five to rebuild the world alone.

Finally, Matt closed his eyes, light began to glow through his lids.

Tightening his grip on the knife, he plunged it in to the soft flesh of his abdomen, gasping slightly at the pain.

He took a tentative step forward. Then another and another until he reached the edge of the chasm.

And slowly Matt began to fall, leaving everything behind.

Hi,

I know you're all going to gang up on me but I'm super stressed right now. I have a huge test tomorrow and a giant essay test Friday and finally a huge project due in three weeks. Then I track out! Boo Yah! Three weeks of lightning fast updates, I promise.

Sorry, I just feel like venting to you guys sometimes.

Love you all.

P.S.

I wanna especially thank MadCatta, Black Lighted Clouds, A Fair Amount of Strife (), and sasuke-kun-19 for reviewing and I sincerely hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Penn


	4. Chapter 4

This isn't very well written but I figured I'd post it then delete it and replace it if you guys totally hate it.

Don't kill me!

Penn

The world spun round and round in crazy circles as Scott plunged deeper and deeper in to the huge chasm.

I'm Alice, he thought lazily as he continued to fall. Now he felt crazy.

Slowly he felt himself slow down. He could have sworn his speed was decreasing,

and decreasing,

and decreasing.

To the point where he literally drifting like a snow flake.. Lightly, his feet hit the stone floor.

He was in a huge chamber and at the very end was the King of the Old Ones.

His face was skeletal, composed of thin skin stretched over humanoid bones. He probably could have passed for human but for one exception.

His eyes glowed silvery red like blood.

"Come closer," He hissed. His voice was tainted with pleasure. Scott found that he couldn't help but want to do anything for the king.

"Look! Your friends have joined me," as he spoke, Matt and Scarlett, hands entwined, popped up next to the king, their faces pale and fake looking, but smiling all the same. Then came Pedro, his thin face fixed with another expectant smile… that was odd, Pedro rarely smiled like that…

Finally, his brother appeared. Grinning he yelled, "Come join us! It's wonderful!"

Why didn't he just ask him mentally?

"Do you trust him?" Scott asked. Secretly he poked and prodded into each of the five's minds.

"Of course!", Jamie yelled back. Then he heard it.

"Come to us, come to us, come to us," he heard.

Shoving into their minds harder, he entered their conscience and began to search..

Everything was blank.

Usually, Scott would compare searching someone's mind to opening a book. Each event was chronicled neat, but you had to search find specific details.

In the minds of his friends he found no memories, no ideas, nothing at all. It was like opening an empty book.

So all of this was fake…

Jumping backwards, Scott screamed, "Go away!"

Running faster and faster he sped away from the king and his fake friends.

Behind him the king smiled. Reaching out he whispered, "Grab him."

Fake Jamie, Pedro, Matt and Scarlett smiled. Then with the force of at least fifteen grenades their bodies exploded outwards. Bits of flesh and bones splattered against Scott as he ran, shoving him to the ground. Scott tried to scramble upwards, reaching and clawing at the walls for support, but he was too late. Sudden, sharp, exploding pain blasted through his leg as the four changelings sunk their teeth into his flesh.

Scott screamed out loud. He could feel their claws sink into his stomach.

"Get off me!" He screamed.

Slowly the world seemed to revolve and he could see the edges of the cavern disappearing.

"Fine!", the king called across the room, "We will meet again. But allow me to warn you, history has never repeated. You will not beat us."

The world seemed to spiral and Scott closed his eyes, allowing himself to get soaked in.

* * *

Scott woke up to a blaring alarm, a groggy Jamie, and a massive stomach ache. His leg was almost immobile, and he couldn't shake off the compressing sense of doom that seemed to surround him like a blanket. It was thick and humid, tightening to the point of asphyxiation.

He didn't remember a single event in his dream. Not one feeling or image.

All he could think was doom.

There was no hope.

* * *

Matt's POV

SNAP!

Matt stood up in one fluid moment that was faster than a cobra strike. He glanced around quickly and relaxed when he saw Lohan standing in front of him.

"We should go now," Matt said and the two began to move.

They had been hiking in the woods for weeks searching for the nuclear plant where the original five had fought the Old Ones. Susan Ashwood believed that if they recreated the battle in which the Old Ones were defeated before, they would be able to lock them away again.

CRACK!  
Matt looked up, fingers curling, but there was nothing there. That was the umpteenth time he'd jumped at the sound animals running around in the forest. Berating himself silently, Matt continued to hike after Lohan, his thoughts drifting to his meeting with Scarlett.

* * *

Dreamworld (This section is narrated by an observer with Matt's thoughts)

"... show me," he whispered. The two children were going over the events that occurred before Jamie had shown up.

Scarlett smiled. The wind around them whipped faster and faster, and rain drops fell, soaking both of them in seconds.

"Look!" Scarlett whispered. Behind them a huge cliff had formed in the sand complete with miniature soldiers and Old Ones. The wind smoothly lifted and began to move each little piece. Scarlett outlined every aspect of the battle emphasizing important parts with crescendos and hardening her voice with steel when a particular gruesome event occurred. They sat like that for hours, never tiring or getting bored. Scarlett would narrate each battle like an epic war story and Matt would ask questions, his curiosity unending as the hours past.

Eventually, Matt began to wonder why he hadn't woken up yet. Lohan should have woken him up by now... but Scarlett's voice forced him down, preventing him from doing anything but sit and listen. He hoped he'd never have to leave.

Of course, nothing should be taken at face value...

Reality

"Pick him up!" he hissed angrily, "What if someone sees us! Hurry!"

A dark clothed figure stepped out and lifted a thin child of the ground. He took the body to a huge truck at the edge of the woods where they were stationed. The outside of the vehicle resembled a moving van, complete with a slogan and phone number. The inside was fully equipped with medical supplies and an artificial respiration tank filled with perfluorocarbon. The minute the body was placed on a stretcher, a team of highly trained medics began to attach wires and tubes to him. Then the young boy was dumped into the tank of oxygen rich liquid. A screen placed at the front of the van showed a picture of two children smiling and laughing, discussing wars and battle strategies.

"Hey! There was some dude in the forest with him. What do you want us to do with him?"

"Come here," someone whispered.

The two sweating hired muscle dragged a thin asian figure over to the van. The man was twisting and wriggling in his bonds, his swears muffled by a gag stuffed in his mouth.

"Lohan. I've waited a long, long time for this." The boss raised a large gun and shot the prisoner in the face. "Let's move!"

Hours later, five hikers discovered a rotting corpse in forest, the only sign that the kidnappers had ever been there.

* * *

I'd love some feedback on how to make this thing better.

Please PM if you have any ideas or critique!

Penn


	5. Chapter 5

No AN today guys, just please please please review!

Scarlett's POV

As the large jeep ran over yet another bump in the dirt road, Scarlett couldn't help but wonder if the Universe hated her. Pedro, a tour guide named John, Richard, and herself had spent the last three hours bumping over the rocky, muddy, absurdly uneven terrain on their way to visit a group of Aborigines who knew about the Old Ones and might be willing to help if they could meet one of the five. _Well they'll be darned happy, _Scarlett thought moodily as her teeth rattled painfully, _instead one of the five, they get two!, _she thought sarcastically. She rather wished that Lohan or one of her other friends were here. (Honestly, they weren't really friends, but still.) In fact, if Scarlett was just the slightest bit less compassionate and the tiniest bit more selfish, she would have wished Aidan or one her mates from school were there. She hadn't even been able to visit her mum, who lived in Australia. Fortunately, she had enough sense as not tell them anything. They really didn't deserve to be stuck in the same awful predicament.

It really was a pity Pedro didn't talk any more. He was nice to her and all, but he spent a lot of time just sitting there, staring off into space thinking about the Incas and his unknown family. That thought sent off a chain of other thoughts regarding the five. She had only met Jamie for a short amount of time, and his brother even less, but the two seemed nice enough, if a bit wrapped up in their own thoughts, literally. Matt was different though. He seemed willing to talk to her. She wished he was here, if only to talk. It would be really fantastic to talk to someone who not only lived in the same place as she used to, but he was also the first of the five and, according to Jamie, the leader of the resistance against the Old Ones. He could catch her up on the whole story. It was vaguely annoying to be the only one with a botched up picture as to what they were supposed to do.

"Everyone out!" the guide called. Scarlett glanced around. In the time it took her to thoroughly organize her thoughts, they had arrived in the middle of a huge settlement in the northern Australian desert. She was pretty glad there were still settlements like this in the world. Places where people believed in the Old Ones and the five. The very idea of broadcasting a group of magical, apocalyptic beings to the world frightened her. _What if people don't believe us?, _she had thought anxiously when Henry had introduced the idea of rallying support and gathering troupes. She didn't want other people to fight her battles for her, but what choice did she have? Scarlett knew full well that the five couldn't take down an entire army of Old Ones, especially after they had so much time to heal since Matt tried to stop them in South America.

Scarlett was suddenly dragged away from her train of thought as a group of Natives walked warily towards their small recruiting band. They muttered quietly to themselves as they circled her and her friends. Their eyes were hard and critical, making her feel like a scrawny, not-nearly-good-enough horse. One man strode up towards her and stared at her for a moment before barking a question at the guide.

"He wants you two to show him your powers. A, sort of, test, if you will," John translated.

Scarlett would have gladly shown off her powers had Pedro not stepped forward first. He placed one hand over one of the older men's arm that was strapped tightly to his body. His eyes seemed to glow for just a moment before he stepped back and smiled at him. The man glanced at his arm curiously. Fingers stumbling and tripping madly, the man untied the scarf fixing his arm to his side. Slowly he lifted his arm and stared at it like it was some sort of miracle. It made her feel happy. They were physically using their powers to help others instead of only helping in some mixed-up, indirect fashion by defeating an army of misery promoters.

When the people got over the awe-inspiring spectacle that was Pedro's healing power, which was actually surprisingly short considering what he had done, they all glanced towards Scarlett, almost as if expecting her to top that feat. She closed her eyes and willed the clouds to condense faster, bending water and wind to her will and creating huge rain clouds.

"Do you think they'd like rain?" she asked aloud.

"Go for it!" Richard encouraged.

Scarlett slowly released all of the pent-up tension gathering in her head, and as she did so the water that was condensing above their heads fell.

Huge droplets of rain splattered against the upturned faces of the awed Aborigines. Thunder boomed and caused the cause the clouds to rumble while lightening zig-zagged across the gray sky, causing several children to run from the immediate settlement and clutch at their arms, laughing and screaming.

One of the people walked up and asked John a question, which promptly caused a smile to spread over his face so wide that Scarlett could have sworn that it touched each of his ears. "If you two can heal the sick and produce more rain, they'll agree to help us. Will you do it?" he asked.

As the day wore on Scarlett and Pedro gradually built the village back up, him healing broken bones and colds while she blew gusts full of fresh soil and clouds full of rain. While she worked, Scarlett was constantly surrounded by people. Children yelled and screamed for snow and rain, and adults chattered joyfully at the miracles they preformed. The sound of laughter was so loud and all consuming they didn't hear the planes until they were directly on top of them.

A loud buzzing drowned out the last of the leader's speech thanking Pedro and Scarlett. The entire group of people glanced up. To an outsider it might have looked amusing, hundreds of adults and children glancing up in wonder at the one giant black hummingbird. For a moment their expressions were filled with awe and respect, then they twisted, their mouths gaping wide in a resounding screech, their eyes bulging with horror at the humongous bird, which had lowered its beak and promptly ate two people.

Lost in the cries of pain and horror was the low droning of helicopters and the loud rumble of ATVs and army trucks, but when they were seen many sighs of relief were let out. They'd all be fine, Scarlett thought, nothing would happen.

Then the men started shooting.

The hail of bullets tore through scores of people, forming a faint pink mist of blood that made Scarlett want to puke. She ran as fast as possible, dodging and diving to avoid bullets, praying to every god she could think of that Pedro was okay. She found him crouching over a little girl with blood seeping out of her throat. His eyes were flashing and his palms were practically glowing but the child couldn't move.

Scarlett raced over to him, snagging his hand and yanking him away in one smooth go. "You need to help the living, not the dead!" she screeched in his ears as she left him with a man clutching his bloody arm.

She planted her feet into the ground and spread out her palms. Suddenly all of the bullets were aimed at her. Thinking fast, she blew the bullets in the opposite direction, raising dust at the same time, effectively hiding her from the gunmen. Scarlett looked up towards the thunder clouds she had created earlier, they were useless, unless... Suddenly the entire village was lit up with huge bolts of electricity. Every jagged line touched its mark perfectly, slamming into the shooters and causing them to writhe and spasm on the ground.

Scarlett raised her arms up and her entire body lit up with electricity and the lightening zoomed down her finger tips and blasted out towards one of the helicopters. When the electricity from the lightening met the helicopter the entire vehicle exploded with light, making jagged bolts that zipped up and down the structure. The heat it caused blew up the remaining gasoline in the helicopter and created a huge burning inferno that immediately consumed the other vehicles.

It was only when the screaming started that she realized what she had done. One of the houses had exploded from the fire and killed off the dozens of people who gathered inside. Working quickly, Scarlett made a huge tornado and blew rain water at the building. The wind blew dirt from the ground onto the building and the combined forces put out the fire in minutes, but the damage had been done. When the dust finally settled, the carnage was revealed. Five or six people were still alive, their skin was charred off and she could see the burnt bone and muscle. The dead people were no more than skeletons, with bits of burnt flesh still on the bones.

Scarlett sank to her knees. This wasn't supposed to happen, she thought miserably. Her dark hair curtained around her and blocked her view of the village.

This was her fault. The five were separated, the village was blown up, what was next?

* * *

Pedro's POV (sorta)

Scarlett fell to ground and sobbed miserably, and Pedro wished he could help her, but he wasn't good with emotions. He supposed she was angry with herself about the fire, but she had saved most of them, and together they could help the rest. It was an easy solution. But then why was she crying?

He glanced over at her, just to make sure she hadn't gone and killed herself out of guilt. Then screeched, "Date la vuelta!", turn around, Because directly behind the girl's shaking figure was the tour guide holding a machete about an inch away from her back.

Scarlett whipped around and slammed her fist into John's nose, causing him to stumble backwards in shock clutching his nose and swearing like a sailor.

He gripped the machete and swung it upwards, intent upon hacking Scarlett in two, and Pedro watched with horror as Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut, cringing in fear, before he stopped, mid swing, and fell forwards, blood pouring over his lower lip. Standing behind him was Richard, one hand holding the bloody tuni, which, even after being carted over hundreds of thousands of miles, and shoved forcefully into someones spine, glowed and shined brightly. To Pedro, Richard's face looked frozen, almost as if he was horrified, in fact, he was turning a particular shade of green.

Slowly, he walked over to Scarlett, knelt down to where she was huddled into a ball, heaving and shaking, but not crying, and whispered, "Help me." He pointed towards a group of people who had been shot, and held out a hand.

She reached up and allowed herself to be pulled up. The people needed more help than she did.

* * *

Jamie's POV

Now he was worried.

After the Nightrise incident Scott had been silent. He rarely even spoke to Jamie using his mind. And when he tried to get in his mind, Jamie had been blocked out by a figurative wall. Once he tried to fight his way past the wall and ended up passed out for half a day with a migraine headache for the world records books. Jamie compared the experience to being electrocuted, shot, dumped in acid, and ripped in two.

But before, the silence had been comfortable, and Scott had at least talked to Jamie using telepathy. Now, it was total and utter radio silence. He wandered around the apartment they were staying in like a wraith. His skin had started to turn yellow, and his hair was knotted and vaguely greasy. Heck, the time Scott took a shower was when Nathalie forced him out of basic decency.

Jamie was positive something was wrong. Really, he thought, you don't go crazy for no reason. In fact, this all started a few weeks ago, when Scott had woken up screaming. After that night, Scott had locked himself up in his room, leaving only when necessary. After a while, Nathalie had decided against taking him for demonstrations, even though Scott was loads better than himself. After he and Scott had shown up at the cave in California, Scott had managed to force a man to drive them to the airport, convince the airport officials that it is totally normal for two teenagers to get on a plane to New York completely for free in First Class, and get a cabbie in New York to drive them to Nathalie Johnson's apartment, where they managed to convince the doorman that, "Yes, two children who looked like they had spent the last few weeks in a dumpster, have an appointment with Ms. Johnson." The doorman had ended up with temporary brain damage and now thought he was duck who killed zombies when he wasn't eating pond weed.

By this point, they had been forced to tie Scott up at night, because once he had tried to rip Jamie's arms off. He watched his brother sadly, his features folding into a concerned frown.

"I know you won't answer, but will you please just make some sort of sign to let me know you can hear me?" Jamie begged hopelessly. Ever since Scott had started acting like this Jamie had talked to his brother every night, and every night he hadn't responded. That didn't mean he was giving up, Jamie thought stubbornly, I mean he was his brother after all. "Okay, I'm going to bed now. If you have anything to say, please come and talk to me," he whispered again.

Sighing slightly, Jamie turned and was about to head into bed when a hand suddenly clamped hard onto his wrist. Jamie whipped his head around and found Scott, clawing at his hand urgently, his eyes rolled back into his head, and his lips were turning blue.

Jamie quickly jumped into his head and rifled through memory after memory and begged every god he could think of that the window wouldn't close.

* * *

_"This one can fight hard," it hissed into his master's ear._

_The King seemed to consider his servant's words for a moment, his skeletal fingers stroking his chin being the only sign in his almost dead, impassive face. "Continue, I am eager to see the outcome."_

_"But my lord, he has almost managed to convey a memory! If we continue to do this, you might jeopardize us!" the servant hissed. He had lived for an eternity, feasting on fear and guilt. He could dig into people's minds and listen to every private thought, whispering until they went insane. But never in his lifetime had he ever been bested, and this child was so close to breaking through his spell. Of course, this was one of the five. Scott. The name rolled through his thoughts venomously. No one should be able to this, and even though fighting him had thrown the weak child into a comma-like state, leaving his body to survive on an auto-pilot of sorts, he had done significantly better than people decades older with much more experience._

_"Are you disobeying me?" the king whispered. His thin features were curling up into a pale, frigid smile._

_"Of course not! I shall do as you ask," it hissed tightly. A wave of anger washed over him before he managed to get back in control of his emotions. Bowing low, it disappeared in a wave of fire and ash, back to the child's brain._

_

* * *

_I just noticed that compared to other stories, mine is rather dry and boring and plotless, and for that I apologize.

Thank you for your positive feedback and all of you visitors!

Penn


	6. Chapter 6

SO Sorry but I have absolutely no excuse.

Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Matt's POV

He was fairly sure something was wrong when Scarlett started to melt, but then again...

Her tanned face had been inches away from his when her skin started to droop.

_"Scarlett. What's wrong?" he'd asked lazily, his long hair drooping over his half-shut eyes._

_"Nothing, why would you ask?" she replied a faint smile crossing her face. By this point her cheeks were starting to fall down her face. Scarlett leaned forward as if to kiss him and her eye with its beautiful green iris slipped out of its socket with a disgustingly wet plop._

_"Agh! Get away from me!" Matt had screamed. He scrabbled back expecting to find a hand-hold in the loose soft sand of the dream world. Instead, his fingers brushed over some smooth, hard surface. With two round holes..._

_...and one grainy, triangular one..._

_...and if he wasn't mistaken two rows of smooth, square pieces each evenly lined up in a semi circle._

_His features were frozen as glanced backwards and found, staring right at him, a human skull. A feral howl of fear wrenched its way from his mouth and he leapt up, scrambling and jumping in utter desperation. But, obviously, it didn't help. He tripped and fell onto another skull and once he forced himself to look he found the entire floor was made up of row after row of cemented skulls, like a cobblestoned pathway to hell. _

_"Matt! Wait! Where on** earth** are you going?" Scarlett called to him. He flipped around and instead of the beautiful weather manipulator he saw a skeleton, except... not human. He had studied anatomy in school and Scarlett's hips were backwards, instead of a spine giant spikes protruded from her back and knobs of bone bunched along in random groups along her body. Her skull was long and narrow and spooned at the end and curved into two distinct fangs. Her skin was dripping off of her body revealing organs and over sized maggots wriggling and writhing amongst the bloody tissue. "Come back! We were having fun weren't we? You like me don't you?"_

_Instead of responding Matt scrambled to his feet and took off down the hallway. _

_"Matt! Wait! Where are you going?" Scarlett screamed. Her voice sounded so hurt and alone that he wanted to turn around and run into her arms whispering reassurances, but the memory of her mangled body kept him running for his life._

_"**I** know what you're doing! You're playing with me! You're **such** a tease Matt. Well, ready or not, here I come!" she called down the hall and he could hear the thrumming sounds of her gait. Matt wanted to give up **so badly**, he wanted to stop and run into her arms. He wanted to bury his face into her soft, warm skin and kiss her to death, yet every muscle in his body told him to run and keep on running, to never ever stop running because stopping meant getting caught and getting caught meant death. Every now and then he could hear her voice, calling playfully out to him. Echoing inside his skull to the point where he'd do anything-**ANYTHING**- to end it. Then he saw it. An intersection made up of several hallways, each one exactly the same as the next. In the center was a post of some sort. It was made up of some sort of smooth substance and at the very top was a bulbous and old fashioned lamp that resembled something from 19th century England. As he entered the intersection he grabbed the lamp and swung around, angling slightly to the right, launching himself smoothly into a tunnel several feet away from the one he'd just escaped from. _

_He'd barely entered the hall when everything started to blur. The bones on the wall swirled and melted like hot butter. The entire passage seemed to twist and he could barely make out the faintest hints of pink and blue. Then everything stopped. The walls that were formerly covered with skulls were now woven into a thick arbor made of some sort of tree. The entire structure was covered with a thick layer of foliage that cast a greenish glow over the ground. Matt tentatively stuck out one foot. The ground was made of compacted dirt, hard and firm and cool. With a touch more confidence he began to walk forward. The passage seemed to stretch on forever and eventually the sun seemed to be changing positions. Curiously enough Matt felt fine, in fact he felt better than normal. The sleepy daze he had entered when he met Scarlett had disappeared and he now felt alive, as if seven tons of caffeine had been pumped into his system. As he kept walking, he could almost hear the sound of birds chattering away with strangely human voices, but it didn't really bother him, he just walked along, not ever noticing the steely eyes following his every move, watching..._

_...begging every god they knew of that he would never escape._

* * *

Third Person POV

He sat very, _very _still.

"... and this is why we CAN'T MAKE MISTAKES! Because when you make mistakes, the big guys upstairs, they KILL us," Jonaten hissed at his employee. The employee-whose real name was Joeseph Heathner, but no one really cared-began shaking as Jonaten-_the _boss-stuffed his face into Joeseph's. "You, my dear, _dear _friend have just signed our death warrants. You really are the absolute _best_ person in the business."

"Sir I apologize profusely for the mistake, I mean, really, the kid's got a mind like a safe, it was hard enough for the team to crack his head, much less do the insert..." Joe meekly trailed off as his boss glared at him, and though he was on the other side of the room at this point, it still managed to send shudders down his spine.

"BUT THAT'S THE POINT! _You _are the best, _your team _should have been able to do it, and now _you _are going upstairs to tell _his very high, high majesty **exactly**_ why _you_ managed to fail," Jonaten screeched back.

Joe sat there, very, no _extremely_ nervously processing the information that had been dumped on him.

_He _had to tell the King...

_he _was going to be the only person in the room...

gods, he was going to die.

* * *

Okay so I guess I haven't updated in months and honestly I have no excuse so enjoy the chapter and I hope I can make weekly updates from now on!

So Sorry

Penn


	7. Notice

Hello! Sooooo, this is actually really awkward, but I decided that I will at some point finish this and the other story I have on this site. It's been a while and I only just realized that this is a story that can still be read. Okay. For those of you who are still waiting, I plan on updating… how's next Saturday? Cool! Thanks for like showing interest.

Penn


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